July 12, 2008
First of all, scroll down to see pictures from the Laser Show project.
I am relocating to dougbrantner.com/wordpress as I don’t know how much longer I have on the RIT servers…
And while you’re at it, take a look at my demo reel, also on dougbrantner.com.
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May 22, 2008
So to sum up, the laser show is a good prototype for a more elaborate one in the future. I would really like to replace the vibrating motors with galvanometers for more precise control and thus the ability to draw cooler pictures.
On the software end, I’d like to make it DMX controllable so that it can be hooked up to a lighting board and add dip switches to set the address. That would also eliminate the need to be hooked up to a computer. I could also make a proprietary control box for standalone use.
I’d also like to figure out a better way to pulse the laser, either with a separate thread in Processing, or just make it hardware based on the Arduino, because the framerate variable in Processing is not necessarily consistent, especially at values like 1000 and 2000 FPS, which is necessary for millisecond precision. I had better luck with the PWM control simply because it’s a low-level constant independent of complex things like screen refreshing and serial data flow.
All in all I’m happy with the way the project came out and I think it was a successful experiment. Now to find a fog machine…
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May 15, 2008
Housing is built; high walls to keep it from floating around inside its case. New brackets for the mirrors, and new glass mirrors to replace the old plastic ones. Also re-soldered all the motors to reinforce against the vibration.
How it works, for those of you who asked, is a laser pointer bouncing off of 2 mirrors. Each mirror has a vibrating motor on it which causes it to, well, vibrate. The first motor vibrates left/right to create the X axis for the laser. You can also see the motor glued to its back.
The other mirror vibrates up/down to create the Y axis for the beam. It’s positioned as far away from the Y mirror as possible to maximize the scan pattern, but close enough so that it won’t overshoot the edges.
I put a dab of hot glue over each end of the pin axles to dampen the vibration a bit and keep the pin from vibrating off-axis. This keeps the individual scan lines nice and straight. The resulting image is much sharper and smoother. I also discovered that the primitive PWM pulsing can be used to break up the beam (this will look wicked cool in fog):
And if you’re so inclined, laser video! (The cool looking vertical sine wave is weird camera feedback, not visible otherwise)
Hardware is mostly done; now the rest is mostly programming to see what this baby can do.
To do:
-Add inverters to H bridge & finalize circuit
-Relocate from breadboard to soldered circuit board
-Program sweet shapes
-Program laser pulse PWM
-Add transistor kill switch to laser
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May 13, 2008
First crack at aiming/mounting lasers proves that this can be done, although vibrating mirrors are not ideal for pattern control. I’d like to find 2 galvanometers but if not this will suffice. I am also seriously considering harvesting my printer for motors as it will be one less thing to haul back home after graduation…
Right now there is one laser and 2 mirrors, one horizontal and one vertical, for X and Y control respectively. Motor speed & direction are controlled through Processing, as well as laser dimming. I need to add a transistor to the laser circuit, as the 0.02 volts available on a PWM set at 0 is enough to make it glow.
The Physical:
The Computing:
To Do:
-Make mirror brackets
-Mount laser
-Insert on/off transistor in laser power circuit
-Figure out how to program patterns & laser pulses
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May 6, 2008
So Firmata/Processing cc.Arduino.* only work when you set it at 57600 baud, NOT 9600, just like it says in the documentation… hooray for reading directions.
So now the motors work with the sliders and do as I say. Next step is purely physical/commercial as in purchasing components and assembling them.
For those of you interested, I present:
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May 5, 2008
Got Firmata and Processing’s Arduino class to play nice with each other, now can bypass cryptic serial messages and just control the board I/O directly from Processing- upgrading from analog pots to ControlP5 knobs & faders
Next step is to make the H bridge work again to control said motors.
And go shopping for lasers, mirrors, smoke, etc.
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April 30, 2008
Building on my original idea of using water to visualize waves from vibrating motors, I’m thinking of attaching said motors to mirrors and using them to create patterns with a laser beam, all controlled via PWM for variable size/shape. That being said I shall require certain supplies, which might not be acquired this week due to tremendous job obligations, but alas, a custom laser show would be pretty friggen sweet.
This is inspired, by the way, by my first laser show at a Tool concert this past summer, of which I was reminded of backstage at the show last week with beautiful things like color changing LED border strips, UV paint on backdrops, and Martin Mac 2000 moving lights, all controlled by four lighting boards, the mother of which was the GrandMA.
Perhaps this laser will be DMX controllable???
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April 16, 2008
On version 4 or so of ideas for getting useful data from the accelerometer, at dark 05:00, but I figured out finally why it’s “beeping” (haven’t gotten that far quite yet, for reasons that shall be elaborated upon soon).
BUT I figured it out- with the current model being a boolean variable for “moving,” if it’s traveling forward and suddenly decelerates (we’re looking for negative acceleration here), the moment acceleration goes negative, the moving is set to false and the next moment it continues to decelerate, it thinks it’s moving backwards… so long story short, “moving” needs to be a number, not a simple binary value.
I had the Arduino working as a simple oscillator for a piezo buzzer, but the problem there is that the Arduino being a procedural language, any time delays for said oscillator would totally throw off the very sensitive timing for the acceleration sensing… ergo I must figure out how to use a 555 timer to make my buzzer so as to alleviate as much stress as possible on the poor Arduino already slaving away with sensor readings…
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April 3, 2008
Background: 1)When unloading trucks, guiding roadcases down ramps, carrying heavy equipment, et cetera, Sound Reinforcement Technicians (hereafter referred to as “Roadies”) are often required to walk backwards. 2) Said Roadies often find it difficult to look where they’re going when moving in a backwards fashion due to the eyes being mounted in a forward facing array. 3) Non-Roadies (and on occasion fellow Roadies in a temporary lapse of Situational Awareness) often find themselves situated at a point co-linear with the vector of a Load-Bearing Roadie. 4) Non-Roadies, tending not to wear steel toe boots, often experience some level of discomfort at the moment the Load-Bearing Roadie vector intersects their own vector (or point, if standing still).
Purpose: To create a work shirt that will put a smile on the face of OSHA inspectors everywhere.
Goal: To use an accelerometer to determine when Roadies are walking backwards and create an audible alarm to warn fellow Roadies and Non-Roadies to remove themselves from any point co-linear with the vector of the aforementioned Load-Bearing Roadie.
Current needs: Breakout for accelerometer to isolate it from the breadboard & Arduino; data averaging function to analyze accelerometer data for walking person; loud obnoxious sound creating circuit.
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March 29, 2008
To control even larger blinky lights!
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48ch. dimmer rack, ~50,000 watts of light, and 6 dual 18″ sub cabinets… I love my job.
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